On Monday Kegasus, Lord of the Pimlico InfiedFest and party manimal, made his first public appearance. Showing off his beer gut and nipple ring, he joined Baltimore Orioles fans in welcoming the 2011 baseball season prior to the O’s home opening game win over the Detroit Tigers. Kegasus appeared to be comfortable and confident as he mingled with two-legged fillies, mares, colts and geldings at Pickle’s Pub and Sliders.

There are less than 30 days until the 137th Kentucky Derby, and the graded stakes earnings list continues to evolve with every prep race. Only the top 20 on the list are automatically eligible to run in the Derby, so with only five (5) graded stakes prep races remaining until the Derby, many of those “on the bubble” will either try to earn their way into the Derby by performing on the track or hope that their position among the top 20 doesn’t slide far enough down the list to shut them out of a chance to Run for the Roses on May 7th.

Courtesy: GulfstreamParkRacing

On 3 year old whose Kentucky Derby stock rose on Sunday was Dialed In He scored a dramatic victory in the $1,000,000 Grade 1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park over 68-1 Shackleford. I was among the 14,000+ fans at Gulfstream Park who witnessed Dialed In overcome a substantial track, speed favoring bias, as he rallied from last entering the stretch to get to the wire first by a neck. Therefore, this victory was much more impressive than it will appear on paper in the Past Performances on Derby Day.

Recapping Day 3 (Sunday, April 3rd) at the Pimlico Spring Meet…

Best Bet Lady In The Money (# 10; 5th race on the turf; M/L 6-1; P/T 4-1) failed to break and found herself behind a half-dozen horses just 5 strides out of the gate. For a runner who earns her keep being on the lead, this spelled trouble from the start. Within the first 2 of 5 furlongs she was gradually retreating and as the field entered the stretch, her jockey mercifully eased her.

Longshot Frankie Says Relax(# 6; 4th race; 5-1; P/T 2-1) was bet down to the 2nd choice. While he beat the Post Time favorite, #3 – Magical Run (5-2) was the hot horse going gate-to-wire as “Frankie” was be 2nd best paying $3.60 PLACE and $2.60 SHOW

SHOW Parlay Play of the Day, $23 on Stollen (# 10; 9th race on the turf; M/L 3-1; P/T 9-5) was well placed in a stalking position through the first 6 of 8 furlongs, but when asked for his best he flattened out and was passed by two foes, but made this wager a winning one returning $2.80 to SHOW. That’s a 40% Return On Investment (ROI), adding $9.20 to the SHOW Parlay amount available for the next live racing day (Thursday).

For the Pimlico Spring Meet, Day 4 (Thursday, April 7th) …

Soup Of The Day:Potato & Ham

Best Bet:Smart Woman (# 10; 9th race on the turf; 3-1)

This 5 year old daughter of Smarty Jones makes her Pimlico debut for trainer Anthony Dutrow, but she’s already had success on the turf, winning twice with a third place finish in 3 races on the grass. One of her victories came at this distance (1 mile) and she gets jockey Jeremy Rose in the irons who has started this PImlico meet with 3 wins, a second and 3 thirds with only 10 mounts.

Longshot:Diana Girl(# 4; 3rd race on the turf; 20-1)

Huh?! A second time starter who trailed the field from start to finish, losing by 25+ lengths at Penn National on Dec. 31st?!

Yep, she’s the one, for these reasons alone… Her debut race was on dirt, without Lasix in a maiden non-claiming event ridden by a jock whose winning percentage rivals the interest on your passbook savings account. For her second career start she tries the turf in which her dam’s sire (Glided Time) made a living running on the grass. He trainer (Pablo Andrade) is no slouch, winning at a 21% clip in 2011 and has already won with 1 of 2 starts so far at this meet and wins with 20% of his horses running in their 2nd career as well as 21% with runners trying the turf for the first time. Finally, the trainer turns to his “go to” jock (Edgar Perez) who rode both Pimlico starters for him.

SHOW Parlay Play of the Day:$32 on Love Tour (# 5; 2nd race; 6-1) will go off at generous odds and for good reason, but this 7 year old gelding gives it his best every time he hits the track, especially at Pimlico and this distance (1 1/16 mile). At Old Hilltop he’s never been off the board in 6 starts and at the distance he’s been in-the-money (ITM) in 8 of 10 races. The jockey switch to Richard Monterrey is plus and his foes have enough early speed to give him a chance to close ground in the stretch to get at least SHOW purse money which is all the SHOW parlay needs.

The weather forecast looks promising for a great day to enjoy the 10 exciting chase scenes that thoroughbred horse racing provides “live” at Pimlico.